RESERVE — Billowing “smoke” seen from the tree-burning facility on Airport Road in Reserve is mostly water vapor, according to business owner Ronnie Crochet, who said the emissions are completely within Environmental Protection Agency guidelines.

Crochet Equipment Co. has managed the Reserve bio-mass and wood waste facility since May 2009, operating under a St. John Parish contract that recently expired.

Trees and wood waste products collected in St. John the Baptist Parish are incinerated for $14,000 per month, with the ash remnants used to fill holes in the work grounds.

In last month’s Parish Council discussion and subsequent L’OBSERVATEUR reporting, parish officials and a local business owner spoke of smoke emerging from the “smokeless” facility, bringing unpleasant odors and safety hazards to the surrounding area.

According to Crochet, the Environmental Protection Agency allows emissions from smokeless air curtain destructors during start-up operations.

“They’re just burning wood material, so they’re not going to burn anything that’s going to pollute,” Crochet said. “What I saw in the paper was perfectly legal because in the first 20 to 30 minutes of us starting up, you are allowed to have smoke, and that smoke, if you look at it, really isn’t smoke. Those logs are 35 to 45 percent water. When you burn it at a low temperature, it gives off steam.”

When fully heated, the unit operates between 1,900 and 2,200 degrees, according to Crochet. He said smoke is impossible after 1,600 degrees, adding true smoke would be black like carbon.

EPA also allows a 6-minute window to vent materials in case of an upset in the operation, Crochet said. As an example, wood coated in butane may cause a cloud of black smoke, which must be ventilated quickly.

“It’s just like those plants on the river,” Crochet said. “You see the big flares going on when they have an upset. It’s the same thing on a much smaller scale.”

Crochet is looking forward to a new contract with St. John Parish, and he plans to use new air equipment to show which direction the air is coming from at any given time.

“We don’t burn when the air is coming from the east because that comes toward the airport,” Crochet said. “We don’t burn if it’s coming from the north because that goes to the companies behind us. We only have to burn about 16 hours a week to take care of everything. We’re not burning all of the time.”

Paul Aucoin, executive director for the Port of South Louisiana, said the wind direction at start-up does not prevent emissions from blowing over the Executive Regional Airport terminal and planes.

“It being next to the airport concerns us,” Aucoin said. “Could it one day be responsible for a plane missing the airport? Even if not, when a plane pulls up and opens the door and all this smoke comes in, that’s not how to run an airport.”

Aucoin said the wood waste facility should be relocated, regardless of whether it means EPA standards.

“I’m not trying to put him out of business, but having a smokeless incinerator that makes smoke next to an airport is, in my opinion, dangerous,” Aucoin said.

Crochet said the proximity to the airport is not an issue, as he operates the same air equipment on side of an airport runway in Chicago without issue.

During a May Parish Council meeting, Councilman Larry Sorapuru suggested switching from a burning to a grinding operation to create mulch to be dispersed around the parish.

Crochet has seen grinding end in negative results, including a situation in Ruston where a year’s worth of grindings absorbed water, went septic and caused the entire area to smell like untreated sewage.

“The people throwing that stuff away is mostly because it’s these trees that have disease and have been cut down,” Crochet said. “So then you’re going to grind all that stuff up and put that diseased stuff in your garden. That just doesn’t fly.”

Garbage collection fees have paid for the costs of the incineration service in past years, and Crochet said recycling ash saves money that would otherwise be used for hauling grindings.